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<p>The latest headcount data published by NHS Digital show that the total number of
dentists actively delivering National Health Service services increased from 24,308
to 24,545 during the period 2017/18 to 2018/19.</p><p> </p><p>Both NHS England and
Health Education England (HEE) have initiatives in place to tackle recruitment and
retention issues. HEE’s current programme Advancing Dental Care is exploring the opportunities
for flexible dental training pathways that can better serve patients as well as improving
dental workforce retention. NHS England is introducing ‘flexible commissioning’, which
allows local NHS commissioners to commission a wider range of services from dental
practices which is expected to make NHS dentistry more attractive to newly qualified
dentists.</p><p> </p><p>These initiatives sit alongside the Department’s and NHS England’s
work to reform the current NHS dental contract to support dentists to deliver preventatively
focussed care. The patient pathway in the new model makes greater use of the whole
dental team including nurses and therapists which moves away from needing dentists
to complete every course of treatment.</p><p> </p><p>The interim NHS People Plan,
published in June 2019, sets out plans for the future dental workforce. This commits
to creating a capable and motivated multidisciplinary dental workforce, of a sufficient
size, to meet population health needs.</p>
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